fTLD, which submitted a community-based application to ICANN in May 2012, anticipates ".insurance" will be available in late 2015.

"This major milestone will allow us to move forward with our initiative to enhance consumer confidence in the online financial system by creating a trusted, protected, more secure and easily identifiable space on the Internet for the insurance community," said Craig Schwartz, managing director of fTLD. "The new domain will be operated in a highly restrictive manner with strict eligibility requirements designed to ensure that the space is used by verified insurance industry members."

fTLD was formed in 2011 with the support of banks, insurance companies and financial services trade associations from around the world after it became clear that ICANN would accept applications for financial top-level domains. fTLD's ".insurance" will have enhanced security requirements and all applicants will be verified as a legitimate member of the insurance community before any names are awarded and available on the Internet. The new domain will help prevent users from being redirected to fake insurance websites and make it more difficult for criminals to create spoofed e-mails from a ".insurance" domain.

"We see a tremendous opportunity for '.insurance' to serve as a platform for innovation in insurance services, and securing the right to operate this top-level domain is the first step necessary to translate the community's interests and hard work into the reality," said Schwartz.